Community groups working to build their own homes will welcome the news that government has launched a £4million Community Housing Fund grant programme.
Housing Minister Christopher Pincher launched the fund recently, which is an extension to the Community Housing Fund, and is targeted at groups who are already organised and can prove their deliverability and are at the later stages of the pre-development phases.
The fund is administered by the Community Led Homes Partnership an umbrella organisation made up of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, Locality, National Community Land Trust Network and UK Cohousing Network.
Community housing bodies, as well as NaCSBA, continue to lobby government to renew the wider Community Housing Fund, with news expected in the Comprehensive Spending Review in Autumn. Continuing the fund was one of the recommendations set out in the recently published Bacon Review, so the news of this interim fund is a welcome example of government’s willingness to support the sector.
Tom Chance, Community Land Trust Network Chief Executive said: “Community led housing groups are rooted in their communities and truly understand local housing needs. There are so many fantastic projects planned across the country. This programme will help many of these projects come to fruition.
“This extension is very welcome news. But we know there are potentially 23,000 homes in the pipeline and without further Community Housing Fund most will not happen. So our campaign calling for the fund to be renewed for a further 4 years continues.”
The fund is already open to applications until 31 December 2021 (or the money is allocated), and the works funded by the grant must be completed by the close date of March 2022.
To apply complete an eligibility checker on the Community Led Homes website. Eligible groups will then be emailed an online grant application form.
